CHICO — A massive maintenance project on Union Pacific Railroad tracks brought an army of orange-vested workers to Butte County Thursday.

Two were stationed at every road crossing in Chico as a tie renewal project worked its way north. Guards were also reportedly stationed at road crossings south and north of town.

Workers told the Enterprise-Record the project would take four months and cover the area from Grimes, in Colusa County, to Mount Shasta.

On Thursday, huge machines rolled through in a mostly-automated procedure that pulled rail spikes from the ground, picked them up with an electromagnet, then used a claw device to deftly slide the wooden ties out from under the rails.

The human crossing guards were needed because, reportedly, the equipment being used on the tracks isn”t heavy enough to trip rail crossing signals.

Crossing gates had to be lowered by bypassing sensors usually tripped by locomotives.

A Chico employment agency reportedly hired 39 of the guards locally on behalf of RoadSafe, a Reno, Nev. company that provides safety services on large road construction projects, and has a contract with the railroad.

Although the job is temporary, workers said they can make decent money.

The project is expected to make train traffic through Chico safer, particularly at road crossings, where motorists often report seeing tracks bounce wildly as trains pass by.

Another facet of train safety will be addressed soon in Chico, said Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond.

Next week, UP representatives are scheduled to meet with city and Chico State University officials to discuss the problem of pedestrians crossing train tracks at prohibited locations, placing items on the tracks, and, in some instances, even running underneath slow-moving freight cars to get across the tracks.

Richmond said an education effort about train and track safety is expected to be discussed.

On Thursday, work on the project neared the Tehama County line.

The railroad is also reconstructing a number of crossings in the area. Richvale Highway and Fruitvale Road were closed at the tracks a couple of days each this week.

Next week, the Esquon Road crossing will be closed Wednesday and Thursday, and the Nord Highway crossing will be closed Wednesday through Friday. Detours will be available.